Bengaluru, The third case case of Omicron has been detected in Karnataka, state Heath Minister K. Sudhakar said on Sunday.

The new patient is a 34-year-old male, a resident of Bommanahalli in Bengaluru, had tested positive for Covid-19 in an RT-PCR test after returning from South Africa. He is now being treated at a designated hospital in Bengaluru.

Health authorities have identified and tracked five primary contacts and 15 secondary contacts. Their swab samples have been sent for testing.

Earlier, a South African national and a local doctor were found to have the Omicron variant. These were the country's first two cases of the new variant.

The local doctor had no travel history and that fact created a lot of tension as authorities suspected the new variant to be already present in community.

The South African national was found to have left the country before the results of genomic sequencing arrived and the government had ordered multi-pronged investigation into the case.

The government has released new guidelines for international arrivals and made two doses of vaccination compulsory for entry to malls, cinema theatres, and commercial establishments. It has also made vaccination compulsory for parents of school children.